Foo Fighters steal the show at Isle of Wight as Pulp make their return

Isle Of Wight 2011:
Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters proved the band’s sets are worth being cryogenically defrosting for, while Pulp’s smooth comeback effortlessly took fans back 20-odd years.

Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters show the kids how it’s done at Isle Of Wight festival

Six years can be an eternity in the music world, just ask the Kaiser Chiefs. They sank into near anonymity Friday night at the Isle Of Wight Festival 2011 after just 22 months out of the game.

But despite it being five years, a hefty hiatus and one Them Crooked Vultures LP since Foo Fighters last had the honours of wrapping things up at Seaclose Park, Dave Grohl and Co still produce a set so good, itâd be worth cryogenically defrosting for.

âBridge Burningâ and âWalkâ from new release âWasting Lightâ were rousing, and certainly heavier than suggested on the album but, as always, the most remarkable Foo Fighters asset was their consistency.

Jack White would have been proud of the manic cacophony of wiggling fret fingers on âYoung Man Bluesâ, as an acoustic âTimes Like Theseâ treated fans to a special standalone moment of the weekend.

But the band werenât done there. Grohl promised to play until they were ‘thrown off’ and, when on such masterful form, there wasnât anyone among the 65,000 gleeful ticket-holders willing to let them shuffle out early.

Though, running with a skin-poundingly brilliant rendition of âBest Of Youâ, they surely couldnât have had much left in them? Even their frontman seemed genuinely surprised.

‘How the f**k are we going to follow that up?’ he smiled to wild cheers. The answer? An explosive rendition of âAll My Lifeâ that was likely to give the front row vertigo.

And they were already dizzy enough thanks to the return of Pulp. Their comeback almost felt too simple, too smooth for them to just be able to transport us back to a field in Hampshire again for more brain-misplacement.

But we were there, and thatâs what made it such a remarkable return: the ease and fluidity at which they took fans back 20-odd years.

Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker does his thang during the second day of the Isle of Wight festival

There wasnât a bum track to pick from either. The guitar squirm of opener âDo You Remember The First Time?â was spine shivering, âDisco 2000â crunched out of the speakers and âBabiesâ wobbled as triumphantly as Cockerâs hips.

It was âCommon Peopleâ that stole it though, creating a meadow of flailing limbs, bobbing heads and gurning smiles.

Everyone else seemed to have brought a guest with them on Saturday: Iggy Pop yanked Dave Grohl onstage for a boogie after security pooh-poohed his now-traditional crowd invasion, Led Zeppelin bass boy John Paul Jones joined Seasick Steve but merely distracted from his ramshackle, hub-cap blues and, well, it was anyoneâs guest who the Mechanics were with Mike Rutherford.

But itâs they who surprised most in the afternoon. Sure, theyâve turned dad rock and theyâre starting to sound a little Lighthouse Family, but weâre a generation away from their heyday and the olâ call and response trick on âOver My Shoulderâ still works charmingly.

Elsewhere âBed Of Nailsâ and âAlbatrossâ shimmered during a mesmerising Wild Beastsâ set, but this just wasnât the festival audience for them.

The Vaccines fared better with a performance that further confirmed their credentials as one of the better emerging indie rock acts you’ll likely to see this summer.